Earth Kills
We'd always dreamed of what life on Earth would be like, never believing that we would actually get to see it. Now that we're here, we can see that the fantasy didn't even come close to reality. The reality of life on the ground is so much better. And so much worse. Life on the Ark felt like we were just biding our time; for some of us, we were just waiting to die. Down here, we can really live. We can feel the sun, run through the trees, splash in the water, breathe real air. We are on the ground now. Now…we just have to survive it. Down here, we will learn how Earth Kills.
Chapter 14 – Only Survival And Death
The ring of metal striking metal sounded through the clearing as swords clashed together. Annabeth kept her sword raised defensively to protect herself as her opponent advanced on her, swinging a blade at her again and again. She just barely managed to block each blow and didn't have the time to catch her breath, yet alone strike back. Sweat beaded on her brow from the exertion despite the drop in temperature as evening approached. She gritted her teeth as she was forced back yet again and her adversary advanced on her.
Emily for her part was holding back, a lot. She was used to sparing with trained Officers and Guardsmen. But still, while she may not be too much of a challenge for Emily, Annabeth was a natural with the sword. Just as when they'd practiced with a bow before their first hunt, Annabeth instinctively held a sword well despite never having used one before. It was like her body already knew what to do with the weapons she took up. They'd started in the afternoon and already she'd learned a proper grip to handle the blade and picked up on basic strokes to attack and defend, as well as proper footing and movements. A lot of it she'd learned just from observation.
Emily let up on her assault for a moment and Annabeth took the opportunity to strike. It was a good move, but one Emily was expecting. Instead of parrying it, she dodged back. Annabeth followed through quickly while she had the opening and struck out with her free hand closed into a fist. Emily caught it before it hit her, but missed the hilt of Annabeth's sword aimed for her stomach. Emily stifled a grunt of pain and actually smiled. Annabeth had gotten in close where Emily couldn't use the long reach of her sword and used one move as a distraction while aiming for a soft spot. The girl knew how to strategize and think on her feet; she might not be a guard or an officer, but someone had trained her.
"Who taught you how to fight?" Emily asked as they backed off and circled each other.
"Friend of mine, Luke," said Annabeth. "He's in the Guard."
As she said the word 'guard', she scraped the end of her sword across the dirt floor, flashing dirt towards Emily's eyes. Emily brought her arm up to protect her eyes and Annabeth struck with her sword. Emily blocked it – Annabeth was fast, but Emily was faster – and metal sang as their blades slid against each other.
"He teach you to cheat?" Emily said. She lost a step as Annabeth pushed against her.
Annabeth shook her head. "There's no such thing. There's only survival and death."
Emily smirked. "Well you're not wrong about that."
In a move almost too quick to see, she struck Annabeth's sword arm, using the knuckles of just two fingers to strike a nerve point in the other girl's arm that caused her hand to loosen on her sword as she gasped in pain. Emily snatched Annabeth's sword in her free hand and in the next instant the blade of Emily's sword was against the back of Annabeth's neck, and the tip of Annabeth's own sword was to her throat. Annabeth looked stunned for a moment at how quickly she'd executed that maneuver.
"You need more training," Emily said critically. She moved both swords away and held Annabeth's sword out to her, hilt first.
Annabeth took it and smiled. "Impressive."
Rather than accepting the compliment, Emily gave her a scrutinizing look as she slipped her sword back into its sheath. Emily had plenty of practice with wearing a mask to cover what she really felt, and she got the sense that Annabeth's sunny smiles and bubbly personality were what she used as her mask. Annabeth may be smiling, but Emily could see the swirl of carefully contained anger brewing behind those stormy gray eyes of hers. She really didn't like to lose.
Too bad for her, Emily liked to win.
Many of The 100 had been using watching their sparing match as an excuse to get out of some of the work that needed to be done around camp. Octavia was among the spectators, and she chose that moment to direct a snide comment at Emily.
"Not everyone is some totally emotionless perfect Princess," she said with a contemptuous look. Octavia was among those who hadn't let go of the fact that Emily was the Vice Chancellor's daughter (a daughter of the people who locked then up and sent them to Earth as lab rats), and held her higher status on the Ark against her. And in that arena, it didn't really help that Emily, unlike Clarke or Wells, hadn't made much effort to be friendly. A people pleaser she was not.
"Push me little girl and I'll make you wish your brother had never taken you out of that hole you grew up in," Emily taunted with an amused smirk, knowing that she hit a nerve. Emily knew that one thing she and Octavia had in common was a hot temper when it came to personal issues. The difference was that Emily had the skill to back up her anger.
Octavia lashed out at her as she anticipated (just as she'd tried to do when Annabeth called her 'the girl they found hidden in the floor' before they first opened the door of the dropship on Arrival Day). Emily easily side stepped out of the way. Octavia turned quickly and came at her again, but she grabbed her arm and pushed her back, at the same time hooking her leg out from under her so that Octavia landed on the ground on her back.
"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked as she came to Octavia's side. Octavia was fuming as she got to her feet, but the only thing hurt was her pride.
"Do that again."
They both looked at Emily to see her watching Octavia thoughtfully, considering something.
"What?" Octavia asked, confused. Emily pulled out one of the knives she had strapped to her leg, walked up to Octavia and pushed it into her hand.
"Attack again," Emily ordered, stepping back.
"Emily…" Glass started to interrupt form the sidelines, but Emily shot her a look that told her to stay out of it. Octavia looked from Emily to the knife in her hand and back.
"What's the matter?" Emily smirked at her hesitation. "You picked a fight and you can't see it through?"
Murmurs picked up in the crowd of spectators as this new challenge was thrown down.
Octavia gripped the knife; she didn't know what game Emily was playing, but she wasn't going to let Emily think that she was afraid of her. Octavia came at Emily, stabbing with the knife. Emily dodged and Octavia came at her again; Emily directed the hand holding the knife away from her with very little effort. All the while she was watching the way Octavia moved very closely. Suddenly she grabbed Octavia's arm again, spun around and bent the other girl's arm behind her back, careful not to strain it.
"If that's the best you can do, then you better go find yourself a new hidey-hole," Emily taunted as Octavia tried to break out of her grip. Emily let her go and Octavia screeched and swung around in anger, slashing with the knife. Emily stepped back in time to avoid the knife and saw a few strands of her hair float to the ground. Emily's laugh took Octavia by surprise.
"That's better," Emily said smiling. "That anger you have can make you strong. If you can control it," she added with a sneer indicating that she didn't think Octavia had much control.
Angered that Emily was mocking her again, Octavia came at her again with the knife. Emily's face went from mildly amused to ice cold; she grabbed Octavia's wrist and snatched the knife from her before it even came close to making contact, then she twisted Octavia's arm while keeping it extended and pushed down in her shoulder, forcing her to her knees. Keeping her arm locked in that position it would only take a few more pounds of pressure for Emily to break it. When Octavia tried to pull away, it only increased the pressure on her arm. She gasped in pain, and a jolt of real fear shot through her.
"Anger without control is dangerous," Emily hissed at her. She'd spent years controlling every angry impulse that came to her. Without that control that she'd cultivated, she would have ended up in prison way sooner that she actually did. "If you don't learn control, then you will only get yourself hurt." Emily pushed her away and Octavia staggered from being released so suddenly. When Octavia looked at her, her familiar smirk was back in place. "Piece of advice little girl: don't pick a fight until you learn how."
"I've heard that one before," a new voice rang out.
Emily rolled her eyes before turning around, already knowing who was calling her out. A Hispanic girl with a scowl on her face had separated herself from the gathering of onlookers and stepped forward to face Emily. She had an unconventional and hard beauty, not a girly-girl femininity that so many others had. She was tall with a striking mane of dark hair and a predatory glint in her eye.
The girl's name was Santos, Emily Santos. And years ago, she and Emily Kane had actually been good friends. Once upon a time, they'd found childlike amusement in the fact that they shared the same first name. Or at least one of them had.
XXX
Flashback: four years ago
Little Emmi Santos stood in line with the other new recruits in combat training. Standing shoulder to shoulder in line with the others, the only thing that made her stand out was the fact that she was the smallest one there. She'd been in combat training for a week and no one had taken any notice of her except to wonder what the hell she thought she was doing there. Emmi could see the question in their eyes (and in their sneers). She was the new girl who came from a worker family on Hydra Station. What was she doing here with them? On the social scale, Hydra, like Factory Station where most of the families were workers, was considered one of the lower stations. Not like Go-Sci, Alpha or Arrow Station, where most of these kids came from.
Emmi did her best to ignore their teasing and focus on her goal. If she made it through the preliminary testing, then she could be admitted into Officer Training. Officers were ranked higher than Guardsmen and civilians, and their training started early. If she made it then she wouldn't be just another worker. She studied hard for the academic side of the testing and so far she'd done well. It was when combat training started that she fell short. And everybody let her know it.
But she wasn't going to quit. She'd show them. She wasn't weak.
"Alright," the instructor called their attention, "Who's going up against Kane?"
As part of training today, they'd been sparing in pairs. Most of the pairs had done their match already. No one had volunteered to pair up with Emmi. She was the weakest one there; beating her wouldn't prove anything. It wouldn't raise their ranking in the class. No one had paired up with Kane either, but for an entirely different reason.
Emily Kane - top of the class in all areas; and Councilor Marcus Kane's daughter.
No one wanted to pair up with her because they knew they wouldn't win. And because they were very likely to get hurt. Kane was the best in their age group – probably the best in some of the older age groups too when she was allowed to train with them thanks to special permission from her father. Looking at her now as she stood next to the instructor, Emmi thought that Kane looked like someone who had never had where she belonged questioned. She held her head high as her eyes swept over the other cadets one by one. Emmi held her breath when those piercing brown eyes landed on her and stayed on her. That look, it was like Kane was daring her to step up. But then, with a slight shake of her head, Emily Kane's eyes flicked away from her dismissively.
When no one immediately stepped up to spar with her, Kane smirked.
And Emmi Santos for some reason suddenly felt her blood boil. That last dismissive look that Kane just gave her, like she wasn't worth taking notice of…she'd seen it one too many times. With her eyes still on Emily Kane, Emmi Santos did something that was impulsive, most likely to draw more negative attention from those who thought she didn't belong, and would probably get her hurt.
Knowing that it was a stupid idea even as she did it, she stepped forward and said, "Me."
There was a smattering of chuckles and snorts that followed her as she walked onto the mat – "Dead girl walking," Rileigh Byrne hissed at her as she passed; Kayla Shumway shushed her and gave Emmi an encouraging nod – but Emmi ignored them all. She stood on the mat and faced her opponent.
After, when they were all gathering their things to leave the training room, Emmi bent down to pick up her bag. Bending down hurt thanks to the hits she'd taken to her ribs. She ended up sliding to the floor to rest for a moment and catch her breath. It was probably better to let everyone else clear out first anyway, and avoid the taunting jabs they would aim at her. Everyone was too glad to be done with training for today to take any notice of her, but one voice did catch her attention.
"You didn't have to hit her that hard Em," she heard Wells Jaha say and knew that he was talking to Emily Kane. They were talking about her.
And hearing Emily's answer almost brought tears to her eyes, "If she can't take it then she shouldn't be here."
Emmi held the tears back; they wouldn't do any good. But maybe they were right, maybe she didn't belong. Maybe she never would be anything more than just another worker from Hydra Station.
"Some advice: don't pick a fight 'til you learn how," a voice said in front her. Emmi looked up to find the other Emily, Emily Kane, standing over her. A quick glance around showed that everyone else had already left. She gaped at Emily while the councilor's daughter kept talking to her. "You have a decent right hook Santos, but the rest of your technique is sloppy. I can help you with that if you want."
Emmi just stared. Emily Kane was talking to her. Not taunting, but talking. Kane had never talked to her before – not with a kind word, or a snide comment as most of the others had – but her focus was entirely on Emmi now. Her eyes seemed so crisp, so clear, so dark. Emmi found herself staring into them…a little too long, before she realized that she was supposed to say something.
"Why would you want to help me Kane?" she asked uncertainly.
"A fight's always more fun when the other person can hit back," Emily said with a shrug. With a slight frown she added, "And don't call me Kane. It's Emily." And then her frown disappeared just as quickly as it came, "You go by Emmi right? That's cute."
"It's Emily," she said quickly, and then realized that she was still sitting on the floor. Getting hurriedly to her feet, she stammered, "I mean…my name's Emily too." She tried not to smile like an idiot, but she liked the fact that they shared the same name.
Emily Kane tipped her head to the side thoughtfully. She didn't like it as much as the other Emily did. "I think I'll just call you Santos."
XXX
That childlike attachment died long ago. Facing Santos with a fake friendly smile, Emily said, "Well, look what the crazy dragged in."
Needless to say, their friendship had not ended on the best of terms.
Santos had been arrested, predictably, for assault. Emily hadn't seen her in nearly three years but looking at her now, she could see that the girl still had a screw loose. Behind Santos, a boy, Leo, stood looking at her with an adoring look on his face – the kind of boy who was happy if a pretty girl like her gave him the time of day. And knowing Santos, she probably liked the kind of devoted attention a boy like that would give her; it made her feel better about herself.
"I see you found a new toy to play with," Emily said. "Try not to get too attached this time. I know how you get when you lose things."
She saw a confused look come over Leo's face for a moment as he wondered what she meant by that, but it disappeared back into a grin when Santos looked at him and gave him a flirty smile. Leo wasn't crazy. He was just dumb enough to follow someone who was crazy. And he probably liked that a pretty girl was giving him some attention. But Santos wasn't interested in him, not really. Emily had seen what she looked like when she was interested, and that wasn't it. He was just someone who would do what she told him to. When she turned back to Emily, it was with a look of venom in her eyes.
"You're the one still always playing games with people. Like her," Santos nodded to Octavia. Then she looked to Glass and said nastily, "Or like your little friend over there."
Emily's fake smile turned into a look that was straight up hostile and she stepped in front of Santos, close enough to block Glass from her view. She didn't want this psycho going anywhere near Glass, not after what happened last time.
"You ever touch her again and I will end you," she said dangerously.
"Yeah? Well I'm right here. A fight's always more fun when the other person can hit back, right? So why don't you take a shot Kane?" Santos said in a taunting voice. She knew how much Emily hated to be called by her last name.
And Emily knew what Santos hated. "You're not worth it. You never were."
With a girl who suffered from an unfortunate mix of anger issues and an inferiority complex, that was hitting where it hurt. And Santos hit back, again predictably, with a fist. Emily saw it coming and dodged back, though the blow still glanced off her chin. Santos had a mean right cross and knew how to put power behind it; if her fist connected properly, she could knock someone on their ass, maybe knock them out cold. And Emily knew that because she was the one who taught her how to hit like that.
As Emily counterattacked, the members of The 100 who'd been watching backed off to give them room. Some of them looked wary about the very obvious hostility between these two, while others started chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" One thing you could always count on from a group of juvenile delinquents was that they loved a good fight.
The calm that she went to when she fought melted away the anticipation of the crowd that had grown, and Emily's focus zeroed in on her newest combatant. The muscles in Santos' neck and shoulders were tense, her eyes moved restlessly over her opponent's body, and behind them a chaotic energy peeked out, visible to anyone who knew how to look for it. It was anxious and fearful, yet filled with sneering arrogance – the usual contradiction that Emily had always seen in her. Santos' jaw clenched and unclenched, her breathing was uneven; she was off balance, both physically and mentally. She may want this fight, but Emily knew that her unchecked emotion would blind and weaken her, just like it always had.
The crowd exclaimed as they fought. The way those two fought looked like it might have been choreographed; they knew each other's moves and how to counter them. This wasn't a prison brawl like what had been seen before in the Skybox, and it wasn't sparing like when Annabeth had gone up against Emily. It was a fight, plain and simple; they wanted to hurt each other. Santos' preferred method of fighting was a cross between kickboxing and jujitsu, and Emily altered her style to match it, meeting her blow for blow and kick for kick to block or deflect each one. Emily knew that Santos was a good fighter – she should be; Emily was the one who taught her – but her anger and impatience made her predictable, a fact that Emily took full advantage of.
Emily side-stepped, affecting a miscalculation that appeared to put her off balance. Santos lunged to take advantage of the opening. If her thinking was unclouded by her rage, she might have been more cautious. As it was, Emily was able to aim a kick at her knee as she came in close; before Santos even had time to react, Emily's foot flicked up to the side of her head, knocking her down hard. That would give her a headache later.
Santos' new boyfriend chose that moment to come to her aid; he charged at Emily from behind while her focus seemed to be elsewhere. Leo thought that surprise would give him an advantage, but Emily wasn't easy to surprise. She spun away before he made contact, kicking his leg out from under him in the process. Before he even knew what happened, she flipped him head over heels. The spectators groaned in sympathy as he landed hard on his back a few feet away and lay groaning on the dirt floor.
Turning back to Santos who'd pulled herself off the ground Emily said condescendingly, "You done yet?"
The two of them both held anger over whatever history they had between them, but those watching who were really paying attention could see the contrast between Emily's cold focus and Santos' growing agitation. Santos lashed out wildly, her precision way off as rage overtook her training.
Emily blocked the punch, and grabbing her arm, she twisted it behind her with much more force than she'd used on Octavia until Santos cried out in pain. She pinned one arm across the other girl's throat and kicking out the back of her knee, Emily forced her to the ground. She held Santos in a headlock as she struggled to breathe. Emily could break her neck with that hold, and Santos knew it. Real fear surged through her as she tried to pry Emily's hands away, terrified that with one brutal twist, her time on Earth would be over.
"She's gonna kill her."
"Let 'em fight."
"Someone stop her!"
But nobody moved to stop her. Voices of the people around them prickled at the edge of her focus, but Emily tuned them out. Santos had tried to hurt her friend before – she'd hurt Glass, that's what she'd gone to prison for – and Emily could stop her from ever doing it again right now. She could choke her to death, or just break her neck, make it quick.
"Emily!" That voice stopped her, that gentle melodic voice. It was Glass calling her name. "Emily, stop! Let her go!"
Emily felt Santos struggling to get loose and knew that she was afraid. The anger in her eyes melted away to be replaced by a cold mask. She pushed Santos away from her and looked down on her as she landed on the ground. Santos' ferocity had subsided with the fear of having her neck broken, but the hate was still there. Leo just looked wide-eyed and queasy. Emily turned in a slow circle surveying the now silent crowd as they watched her warily. When she spoke her voice was frighteningly calm after what had just happened.
"Anyone else who has a problem with me better get it out now. Next time, I won't be holding back." She spoke in a cold calm voice that was somehow scarier than if she'd been yelling. No one stepped up; they all stood back, watched her warily. Some wouldn't even meet her eye. "Didn't think so."
Emily turned and stalked away, heading out of camp alone. Evening turned to night pretty quickly; it would be dark soon, and it wasn't safe to be out in the woods after dark (or during the day for that matter). But nobody tried to stop her. They just stared after her, stunned.
"Show's over people," Thalia's voice snapped them all out of it. In the excitement, nobody noticed her come up, but with a hard look around the gathered crowd she dispersed them back to the jobs that they were supposed to be doing until only Annabeth, Octavia and Glass were left.
Glass was looking off into the part of the forest that Emily had disappeared into. Emily had been going off into the woods on her own the past two nights since Arrival Day, like she couldn't stay put in camp for long. Glass worried about her out there, but after what just happened she was thinking that maybe she should be worried about her in here too.
"What the hell is wrong with her?!" Octavia said to nobody in particular, her own anger still simmering from her little go-around with Emily.
Thalia tilted her head thoughtfully. Whether that question was supposed to be about Emily or Santos, her answer for both of them was, "My first guess would be: a lot."
Annabeth noticed that Octavia was holding her arm in close to her. "Are you alright?" she asked in concern.
"I'm fine," said Octavia even as she winced when she moved her arm. It probably was strained from when Emily twisted it.
"You should let Clarke take a look at that arm," said Annabeth, "Just in case."
"I'll come with you," said Glass. Octavia nodded and they walked away towards the dropship where Clarke would be taking care of Jasper. The camp's doctor had barely left her patient's side since they'd brought him home after he was speared by grounders, and Glass had been trying to help her as much as she could.
"She's tough," Thalia observed as Octavia walked away. "Not much of a fighter though. She's got a lot to learn." Apparently she'd caught Octavia's tussle with Emily. "Emily's a hell of a fighter." Thalia glanced at the sword that Annabeth was still holding, "Looks like she could be a good teacher too."
"Sure," Annabeth said sarcastically, "If she were interested in actually teaching anyone instead of just beating people into the dirt."
"Then you teach her," said Thalia.
Annabeth shot Thalia a questioning look. Thalia took an interest in people when she thought they were either a threat or that they could be useful. And as far as Thalia was concerned, Octavia seemed to be neither; she hadn't even spoken more than a few words to her.
"Okay, I know why I would want Octavia to learn how to fight," said Annabeth, "But why do you?"
"Does it matter?" Thalia snapped, "You want your friend to be able to defend herself don't you?" There had been times before when Thalia asked Annabeth to do things, but she usually gave Annabeth a reason for whatever she was asking. This time though, she just walked away.
XXXXX
There was a time when Emily was a child that she used to be afraid of the dark as most children are; when bad dreams or sleepless nights would drive her to knock on her parents' door in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. Her mother would welcome her into her arms. Her father took a more practical approach. He sat her down back in her own room and told her not to act like a child, that nothing in the dark could hurt her. She already knew that, but still, as any child would, she reached out for someone to comfort her, to make her feel safe. That didn't happen. She was five when she stopped seeking out her father for comfort and protection against the monsters that hid in the dark. That was when she started learning to rely only on herself. But…she'd always had trouble sleeping through the night, which was part of the reason why she'd taken to wondering the woods after dark.
Emily hiked through the woods with the last light of day fading; soon there would be nothing but the moonlight and the stars to guide her. She didn't feel safe, but she also wasn't afraid of the encroaching darkness around her, or what it could be hiding. Something happened each time she crossed the tree line, as she moved away from camp in the quickly dimming evening light, setting out on another night of exploration. She began taking deeper breaths, tasting the scent of the flowers that she noticed bloomed only at night. She exhaled slowly, letting the tension that she'd carried from camp dissipate with her breath into the night air. Her heart pounded with strong, slow, steady beats, marching in time to a pulse in the ground.
The best part of being out here was the quiet. Nowhere on the Ark had ever been completely silent. There was always a low hum of background noise: the drone of machinery working, the buzz of the lights, the echo of footsteps in the hallway. It had been unsettling the first time she'd entered the forest on her own without a group of people with her, not having anything to drown out her thoughts. But the more time she spent here, the quieter her mind became. And the quieter her mind became, the sharper her senses seemed to be. It was like someone hacked into her brain and cranked her senses up to a setting she hadn't even known existed.
Now Emily made her way down a trail bordered by slender trees whose branches wove together forming a sort of archway. She had a goal in mind to get to tonight; taking this path was a detour. She'd seen something down here from the hill above and wanted a closer look. She moved with caution as a geometric outline took shape among the tangle of branches. It was a house. Mostly intact, although a portion of the right side had partially collapsed, the mountains must have protected it from the bombs ninety-seven years ago. As she got closer, Emily saw that the house was made of stone, which had a better chance of weathering the destruction. There was no glass left in the windows, and thick vines covered much of the surviving walls, curling up through the window and out through holes in the roof, looking like they were poised to pull this remnant of human life down into the depths of the Earth.
Emily walked towards the side of the house furthest from the collapsed wall where there was a window with a ledge beneath it. She pulled herself up with ease and then lowered herself through the window, disappearing into the darkness inside. This house was an actual home where people had lived before nuclear war destroyed the world. As her eyes adjusted to being cut off from the light, she saw that she stood in what had once been a kitchen. The floor was covered in cracked tiles, and broken cabinets hung precariously on the far wall. The counter was layered with generations of dust. Emily didn't touch anything as she moved through the other rooms that were still intact, seeing bits and pieces of how people on the ground had lived so long ago. In one of them, she stopped in the doorway, not going any further. There on a bed lay three skeletons, their moth eaten clothes still draped over them. The smaller one in the middle was obviously a child. A child who'd died with its parents arms around it and a stuffed bear in its arms.
When Emily was sparring it was easy to see that she was enjoying herself; in a real fight her expression showed cold focus; walking through the woods she was both vigilant and relaxed at the same time. But at this moment, to anyone looking, it would have been impossible to tell what she was feeling, whether she felt sadness at this forlorn sight, or was completely indifferent to it.
Eight billion, that's how many people died when the bombs fell. It had always seemed like an abstract concept, just another fact learned in school, but here she was seeing it up close. Emily couldn't help musing over the irony of the day: fighting out an old grudge when much bigger issues plagued them. She could have killed Santos back at camp – it wouldn't have been difficult, and she would be lying if she said that she hadn't been at least a little bit tempted to get rid of a problem right then and there. But the world had seen so much death…who was she to add to it. On Earth they were surrounded by a legacy of destruction.
A crack sounded from just outside the house. It was a minute sound, but she heard it. She didn't rush to look for the source of the sound though. She knew that she wasn't alone. Someone was following her.
'Someone' stood with a knife in his hand outside the window that Emily used to get into the dilapidated house, contemplating whether to follow her inside or wait for her to come back out. She was alone and away from the camp, and he wondered if she even considered how vulnerable that made her.
He froze as the blade of a knife was pressed to his neck from behind and a voice spoke in his ear. "I don't like being followed."
Alright, so not so vulnerable
"Yes, I can see that," Danny answered. Emily allowed him to turn to face her while still keeping her knife on him. When she heard him outside, she'd crept out of the house through the broken wall and slipped back around the side. "You mind lowering the knife?"
Emily looked him over. Aside from the knife in his hand, it didn't look like he was carrying any other weapons, and he held the knife loosely out to the side – non-threatening. She'd never seen him fight, but if he was a threat to her she was sure she could take him. She moved her knife away from his neck and stepped back, putting a little space between them.
"Sun's going down," said Danny. "You know, it's not safe to be out in the woods at night."
Emily tipped her head slightly to the side, "Then why are you following me out into the woods at night?"
He smiled easily at her considering that she'd just held a knife to his throat. If he thought that she wouldn't use it if she felt she had a reason to, he was wrong – but that smile made her curious. She liked a guy who wasn't intimidated by her, someone who didn't scare easy.
"Because you shouldn't be out here alone," he answered. Emily stepped closer to him, closing the distance between them again, this time minus the knife, which Danny was grateful for as he looked her up and down appreciatively, admiring the view.
"Well I'm not alone now, am I?"
For the life of him, Danny couldn't tell whether she was annoyed or pleased by that fact. But he followed her as she turned away and started walking, enjoying the view from behind as they went. She kept moving, taking a right turn that took them off the path that she'd used to get to the house and going deeper into the forest where the trees grew thicker, covering the ground with strange shadows.
"What was that about, back at camp?" Danny asked. "That fight with Santos, it looked like it was personal."
"She wishes it was personal," Emily scoffed. She'd already put it out of her mind. Santos might be holding a three-year grudge, but after she'd been put in lock-up Emily hadn't given her another thought. "That girl is at least three different kinds of crazy…maybe four."
"You looked ready to break her neck."
Emily shrugged. "She should know by now not to pick a fight she can't win."
"So why did she?" Danny's curiosity persisted.
When she turned around, Danny was struck by the intensity of her dark eyes, eyes that claimed and held anything they landed on before she dismissed it. "She blames me for ruining her life."
"And did you?"
Emily looked up through a break in the trees where she could see a patch of stars that had emerged as the last of the daylight faded. One shone brighter than the others: the Ark. Its light blinked as it orbited above their heads, winking down at them. "Yeah, I guess I did."
XXX
Flashback: two years ago
Emily paced across the room like a caged panther, fuming with anger. The only thing stopping her from going out to confront the source of her anger was that her friend needed her there. Iris watched her in the mirror on her mother's table as Emily's reflection passed behind her again. Iris was using some of her mother's makeup to hide the bruising that had come up over her eye. She didn't want her mom to see it when she got home; her mother, Sonja Glass, had enough to worry about.
"She's been messing with you before?" Emily demanded. She was a lot more worked up about this incident than Iris was.
"Once or twice," Iris tried to shrug it off like it was no big deal. She didn't like seeing Emily angry like this. Anger was so harsh and ugly, and it could make people do crazy irrational things. Santos was a living example of that. That anger that she had towards Emily, somehow it made sense in her head to take it out on Iris.
Emily and Santos used to be friends. After they'd met in Officer Training and Emily offered to help her with her fighting skills, they'd spent a lot of time together and found out that they actually had a lot in common, despite coming from different sides of the social scale. It was only later that the crazy started to show, when Santos became clingy and kind of obsessive about the time she spent with Emily – it made her feel important having a councilor's daughter as a friend. And then Santos started getting jealous when Emily chose to spend time with her other friends rather than her, like she thought that was Emily saying she wasn't good enough to hang out with. And aside from that, there was also the way she started to turn every little thing that they did together into a competition – Emily was competitive, but Santos took competitive to a whole new level – like she needed to prove that she was as good as, or better than Emily. Finally Emily had gotten tired of it and stopped hanging out with her altogether.
Needless to say, Santos didn't handle the separation or the rejection well, especially when she saw Emily teaching Iris how to fight just like she'd done with her back when they first met. Santos felt like she'd been replaced, and acted on that anger. Whatever issues or insecurities Santos had, Emily had lost all sympathy for her.
"She is in definite need of psychiatric attention," Emily muttered. If Santos had come at her directly Emily wouldn't have cared so much, but going after her friend, that was a big mistake, "Why didn't you come to me?!"
"Because I didn't want you to get arrested for assault," said Iris. As an afterthought she added, "Or murder."
That answer actually made Emily smile. Iris knew that if Emily was there when someone, anyone, tried to hurt her, Emily would hurt them back worse. But that wouldn't do her any good. It would get her in trouble, if not with guards, then with her father. Emily would protect her friends, but sometimes she needed protecting too, from herself.
Iris was right, Emily knew. Santos and her obsessing was a minor annoyance, but now it had become a problem. She needed to deal with this problem, not with anger, but with a clear head. Out of every skill that her father had her learn since she was a little girl, he'd taught her that self-control was one of her most important tools. And another was her name. Emily didn't like using her last name much, but the name Kane did have its advantages, and this was one of them. She could use it to make sure that Santos didn't try to get back at her by hurting her friends ever again. Guards wouldn't question her word if she accused some nobody worker from Hydra Station of assault, and anyway it wasn't like she would be lying.
This time tomorrow, Santos would be in Prison Station and out of Emily's way for good.
XXXXX
It was the end of another day on the ground and people were settling down for the night…but it wouldn't be a peaceful one. Dax leaned back against one of the logs by the fire. He could have taken a spot in one of the tents, but he preferred to sleep outside. It was way less confined. It was definitely better than taking one of the hammocks in the dropship where he would have to listen to the dying boy moaning all night. Even from out here he could hear it and it was getting on his nerves, keeping everybody on edge and making it hard for people to sleep.
Another loud groan came from the dropship. If the sound of Jasper dying wasn't enough to keep him awake the people complaining about it was.
"Would that kid just die already!" someone shouted.
The little girl wasn't sleeping well either. She'd curled up next to him, like she'd done for the past three nights, but tonight she kept turning over every few minutes. A small whimper escaped her. Dax looked down at Bo. She was twitching in her sleep, and her feet were moving like she was trying to run away from something. Dax didn't know what was more annoying right now, Jasper dying, or the little girl having bad dreams. When one of her kicks hit his side he'd had enough of it.
"Come on, knock it off kid," Dax said irritably, nudging her awake. Bo stilled. Dax sighed and closed his eyes again. The peace was short lived.
"Is Jasper going to die?" Bo piped up. Dax looked at her and saw that she was sitting up with her arms wrapped around her legs.
"I don't know," said Dax.
"Clarke will make him better right?"
"I don't know," Dax repeated getting more and more irritated.
Bo was quiet for all of thirty seconds before, "Do you think the grounders will come here?"
"Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much kid?" Dax barked at her.
A few days ago Bo might have cringed back and then kept her mouth shut. But she was already scared of the people outside the camp, those grounders that tried to kill Jasper. She didn't want to be scared of the people inside the camp too, not anymore.
"My name's Bo, not kid," Bo snapped, "And I talk a lot because you don't talk at all!"
Dax sat up and glared at her. He liked it better when she didn't talk. This kid shouldn't be his problem at all, he didn't ask for her to keep following him around. But looking at her…she was just a little girl – next to him she was tiny, really – and she was alone, she didn't seem to know anyone here. And right now, even though the small hands resting on her knees where clenched and shaking slightly, she was glaring right back at him. She was scared, but she was trying to be brave. Fine, if the kid thought standing up to him made her braver, he'd let her have this one.
He slumped back down saying, "Jasper's gonna be fine kid…Bo. The doc's taking care of him, she'll fix him."
"Promise?" Bo asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, promise," Dax said carelessly as he put his hands behind his head. He missed the new hopeful look in her eyes and the small smile she gave him. The kid believed him.
"Okay then," said Bo. She did feel a bit better now. The way she saw it, Dax didn't care enough to lie just to make her feel better, so he must be telling the truth. She lay back down again with her stuffed toy in her arms.
Dax thought that was the end of it, until he was woken up some time later when Bo started whimpering and fidgeting again. The fire had died down so he knew that he'd been asleep for an hour, maybe more. He looked at her, curious; if she wasn't worried about the dying kid anymore then what was she having nightmares for?
He lifted her up gently – she hardly weighed anything – and put her down on his other side so that he was between her and the fire. Just in case her tossing and turning again made her do something stupid, like roll into the fire. She didn't wake up, but her hand started to reach for something that wasn't there. Dax looked around and saw the toy that had slipped out of her hands. He picked it up and put it under her chin; she clutched it in her sleep and a smile spread over her face.
Dax sighed. At least her bad dreams were gone for now, so maybe he could finally get some sleep.
XX
Inside the dropship, Clarke and Glass tended to an unresponsive Jasper. He hadn't fully regained consciousness in the two days since they brought him back, but was awake enough to make his distress known to the entire camp. Pained moans came from him every so often, loud enough to be heard through camp and to show just how much pain he was in. It was earning him less and less sympathy as the haunting sound set the camp on edge and kept people awake at night. It served as a constant reminder of the hostile grounder who'd done this. And who could be back at any time.
"His pulse is three-eighty," said Clarke. Glass looked from her to Jasper in concern. In the last few days of helping Clarke take care of him, Glass had learned enough to know that that was not good. His heart rate was higher than it should be, accelerated by the pain and stress that his body was going through. And there was little that they could do for him.
Clarke looked down at Jasper pallid face. A layer of sweat lay over his skin. He'd been battling fever, brought on by trauma and infection, on and off since the morning after they brought him back. If only they had some antibiotics; if only the council had given them a med kit; if only they hadn't been sent down here, a bunch of kids on their own sent to die…
Clarke shook off her wishes and 'If onlys' and the hopelessness and anger that came with them. If she was going to find some way to help Jasper then she needed to keep a clear head. Although the obnoxious voices coming up to them – shouts of "We're trying to sleep here!" and "Shut him up!" – didn't help with the anger.
"Don't listen to them." Clarke spoke calmly and quietly as she wiped a cool cloth over Jasper's hot forehead. "You're gonna make it through this, okay? I promise."
Jasper's only response was another loud groan. The fever had hold of him again.
"Can he just die already?!"
"Quiet!"
Clarke did her best to ignore those comments – though she wondered how those people would like it if they got sick and she refused to help them. "I need to get some clean water," she said to Glass. "Can you watch him?"
"You stay with him. I'll get it," Glass said, putting a hand on her arm to stop her from getting up. Clarke smiled gratefully. She didn't want to leave Jasper's side if she didn't have to. "It'll be okay Clarke. He'll be okay."
Glass' smile had a way of brightening things. Clarke didn't know how she did it – she didn't think Glass knew that she was doing it – but her comforting words helped. It helped knowing someone else believed that Jasper had a chance, that she could help him. She wasn't going to give up on Jasper, no matter what those others said. She would find a way to save him. She had to. She couldn't stand to fail this time…not again.
XXX
Flashback: one year ago
In the family room of the Griffins' flat, a small gathering of family and friends sat around a big screen watching a football game and keeping up a heated commentary on who was favorite to win. Clarke sat next to Emily, while Wells stood behind them, leaning his hands on the back of the couch. All three were absorbed in the game. Clarke and her father, Jake Griffin, were rooting for one team while Wells and his father, Thelonious Jaha, rooted for the other.
"There we go. There we go!"
"See that? Here comes the momentum change."
"Defense."
"The defense is there."
The atmosphere was jovial and filled with the spirit of friendly competition that had persisted through the centuries of sports viewing. This was a tradition of sorts in their families, to watch a season of football each year. Next year they would watch the next season of recorded games.
"Serve it up. Yeah!" Jake and Clarke cheered as their team scored. "They're unbeatable." Clarke high-fived her father as they gloated and the two Jahas bemoaned their team's loss.
Emily's good mood slipped as she watched her friends with their fathers. Hers was conspicuously, though not unexpectedly, absent. Her father, Marcus Kane, used to do this kind of thing with her too…but that was years ago. Now he was busy with his work on the council, too busy to take one night to do something that they'd all been doing together for years. Wells' father was the Chancellor, but he still at least made a little bit of time for his son. But for Emily, her father's world consisted of his job, his meetings, his daily schedule which he expected to dictate the lives around him…
Emily shook off the sudden feeling of melancholy that had assaulted her. She was here to have fun with her friends.
"Prepare for crushing defeat," Clarke bragged.
"Ah, it's not over yet," Wells stated.
"Actually, it was over one hundred and forty-seven years ago," Emily pointed out.
Thelonious waved his hand dismissively, "A technicality."
"Give it up," said Jake. "You're going down."
Iris Glass sat off to the side reading form her hand-held vid-screed. Sports weren't her thing, and she didn't understand half the terminology that they were using. But her mother was working late and her options for tonight were either stay home alone, or join her friends in watching the game. The game might not really hold her interest, but watching Clarke, Emily and Wells argue over it was kind of fun. Wells and Emily could get competitive with each other over just about anything, but always in a good-natured way though. Clarke often acted as their referee, but this time, she was just as much into the competition as they were. Iris met them when she was twelve – when Wells had found her alone and crying and brought her home with him to meet his friends – but those three had known each other their whole lives. There were still times when Iris felt like the odd one out.
Like now.
Wells walked around the couch and sat down next to Clarke. He laid his arms across the back of the couch; with how close he was sitting to Clarke, his arm was practically around her shoulders. Iris frowned, but then shook herself mentally. They were all just friends; it shouldn't bother her to see him so close to Clarke. And it wasn't like he meant anything by it anyway. He and Clarke were just comfortable around each other. She wished that she could be comfortable so close to him…
Glass felt a prickling on her skin, and her eyes slid over to Emily who was looking back at her. Glass looked back down at her vid-screen, letting her hair fall in front of her face to hide her blush. Emily smirked – it wasn't the first time she'd seen Glass watching Wells with that lovesick look – but she made no comment as she turned back to the game. Clarke was too wrapped up in the game to notice, and Wells probably wouldn't have noticed anyway. For such a smart guy, he could be pretty blind sometimes.
"Hi sweetheart," Abby Griffin said to Iris as she came in. Iris smiled at her. Clarke's mom was always nice to her, made her feel welcome. No one else noticed Abby until she called out over the game, "What'd I miss?"
Thelonious answered, pointing an accusing finger at Clarke and Jake, "Your husband and daughter being obnoxious."
"Jake, you better play nice," Abby called to her husband as she set her bag down.
"Come on, get down the field, fire," Wells cheered as his team took the ball.
"Waste of time. Waste…" Jake trailed off as Abby put her arms around him from behind. "Hey baby."
"Hi." She kissed him. "So, I ran into Bennett when I was leaving the clinic and he has that systems analysis that you asked for."
Jake's expression suddenly turned grim. He'd been waiting for that report all day and hoping that it wouldn't confirm what he was afraid of. Exclamations from the three teens on the couch as another play was made reminded him that his fears would be better kept to himself until they were confirmed. And he didn't want to put a dampener on their fun.
"Ho-ho-ho-ho!" Wells crowed as his team gained the upper hand.
Clarke shook her head. "This isn't gonna last."
"What was that you said about crushing defeat?" Wells taunted. "Oh, here it comes."
Their challenge faded to background noise as Jake checked his watch. There was still enough time to get down to Engineering before Bennett clocked off of work. "Okay."
Abby stepped back in surprise as he got to his feet and grabbed his jacket. "What? You're going now?"
Jake gave her a smile and a quick kiss, "Just for a few minutes."
"Everything alright?" asked Jaha, pulling his attention away from the game for a moment.
"Oh yeah, you know this old boat. It's always something." Jake said flippantly as he headed out through the door.
XX
Later That Night
"Clarke, get up," Emily said shaking her shoulder. Clarke was lying on her bed having just fallen asleep. Groggily, she wondered why Emily was in her room before she remembered that Emily had asked to stay the night. "Get up! You're dad's back."
"What…" Clarke said sleepily. She reached for the light next to her bed but Emily stopped her.
"No, leave it off."
Clarke sat up and blinked, letting her eyes adjust to the dark. She saw that Emily was wide awake, which wasn't really a surprise. Emily had trouble sleeping through the night in her own home, and even when she stayed with her friend, she always went to sleep after Clarke and woke up before her. But somehow she never seemed tired. She did seem tense though as she moved away from Clarke and slowly eased open the door of her room so that it didn't make any noise.
"What are you doing?"
"Eavesdropping."
"Why?" Clarke came up behind her. She could hear her parents in the next room.
Emily spoke in a hushed tone, "Because your dad was lying before when he said nothing was wrong."
Clarke gave her a quizzing look. "How do you know?"
"Because I pay attention," was Emily's answer.
Clarke and Wells had been fully engrossed in the game; Emily didn't think that they even really noticed when Jake left, but she had. She'd seen his face when Jaha asked if something was wrong. Jake's tone rang false when he said there wasn't a problem, his smile was strained, and there was an urgency in his movements as he'd headed out the door. Something that Clarke and her father had in common was that they were both too open, too sincere, to lie effectively. Whereas for Emily, living with her father and his politics, she'd had learned early on how to read people, and how to control her expressions and body language so that she couldn't be easily read.
"…And I'm a better liar than you."
"No argument there," Clarke teased. Emily shushed her as they heard Abby and Jake talking in the next room.
"How'd it go?" they heard Clarke's mother ask.
In the family room, Jake sat down heavily in his chair and turned to his wife with a grave look on his face. "Well…I told Jaha it's definitive. The Ark's got a year of oxygen left, maybe two."
"You'll fix it." Abby said encouragingly.
"Not this time. I've tried, Abby." Jake took her hands and looked her in the eye, needing her to see the seriousness of the situation. "This isn't a glitch. It's a system failure. People need to know."
"No, "Abby's face fell as what he was saying sank in. "They'll panic."
Jake rolled his eyes. "You sound like Kane."
"Because he's right!"
"No." Jake got to his feet, too worked up to stay seated. "We can't avoid the truth. We have to let everyone on the Ark put their minds to a solution."
"What, and risk anarchy?" Abby said in disbelief. "No. It's too dangerous." Jake just shook his head. "Promise me that you'll obey the council's orders, that you'll keep it quiet. Promise me."
"I can't," Jake answered sadly.
"For Clarke," Abby pleaded. "Do it for Clarke."
Behind the door of her room, Clarke moved to go out to her parents, to tell them…she didn't know what, but to do something. Emily took her hand and squeezed it before she could. Clarke looked at her and saw her friend shake her head.
"I am doing this for Clarke," they heard Jake say.
As Emily eased the door closed Abby's words floated to them before it sealed. "They'll float you, Jake. If you do this, I won't be able to stop it…"
Clarke and Emily didn't say anything as they exchanged a look filled with fear, worry, trepidation. Abby was right about that. If Jake made the truth known, it could cost him his life. If he was right about the Ark's oxygen supply, this crisis would cost a lot of people their lives. No matter what he did…bad things were going to happen.
XXXXX
.
If everyone cared and nobody cried, if everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride, then we'd see the day when nobody died
.
Glass came out of the dropship after bringing water back for Jasper and took a breath of the clean night air. She, Clarke and Monty had been taking turns watching over Jasper day and night for the last two days. Now she wanted to get some rest so that she could give Clarke a break in a few hours. Clarke was a good doctor, but she wouldn't be much good if she exhausted herself.
Glass was walking towards her tent when she heard somebody cry out. "No!"
Glass moved towards the sound; it led her to the edge of the tent area where a group of children were huddled together. The number of tents was limited, and few people wanted to sleep cooped up in the ship, especially with Jasper in there. The youngest members of The 100 had gravitated towards each other, instinctively seeking safety in numbers against bigger and meaner criminals. However, the bounds of their unity were being tested at the moment as one of their own cried out in her sleep, waking them all up.
"Not again," Max complained. The source of his disquiet was Charlotte, a twelve year old girl with her hair braided down against her head, whose bad dreams had had her screaming in her sleep every night since Arrival Day.
"Charlotte." Carmen shook the younger girl's shoulder. "Charlotte, wake up."
"No!" Charlotte seemed to be stuck in her bad dream, unable to hear them. "No!"
"What's going on?" Glass asked as she came up to them. Seeing the little girl in distress, Glass knelt down next to her just as Charlotte suddenly shot up and looked around in a fright.
"Charlotte was having nightmares," said Carmen.
"Again," Max grumbled as he rolled over.
"Hey, it's okay," Glass said soothingly as she sat down next to Charlotte. "It's okay. It's just a dream." The young girl pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "You know, it's okay to be scared. Do you want to talk about it?"
"It's…my parents." Charlotte sniffled. "They were floated and…and I see it in my dreams and I just…"
"I understand," Glass said. She smoothed a hand down Charlotte's braided hair, and Charlotte leaned into the comforting gesture. "So how'd you end up here?"
"Well… we were taking my parents' things to the redistribution center and… I-I kind of lost it…" Charlotte stared down at the ground as she said, "They said I assaulted a guard."
"I can't say I blame you," said Glass. Guardsmen were not typically a sensitive bunch who would bother to show compassion to a young grieving orphan. Charlotte sniffled and wiped away some of her tears with the back of her hand.
.
From underneath the trees we watch the sky, confusing stars for satellites
We'll show the world they were wrong, and teach them all to sing along
.
"See that bright star up there?" Charlotte looked up as Glass pointed up to a tiny light that shone brighter than the rest. "That's The Ark in orbit above us. I think whatever happened up there, all the pain…maybe we can move past that now. Maybe being on the ground is our second chance."
Charlotte looked at her hopefully. "Do you really believe that?"
"I'm trying to." Glass gave her an uncertain smile but an honest answer. She put her arm around the girl's small body and held her close. "You're going to be okay Charlotte. I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."
Charlotte laid her head against Glass' shoulder, seeking comfort from someone when she hadn't had any in a long time.
"Can you sing?" Carmen asked.
Glass smiled. Since she sang for everyone after their first meal, she'd kept singing for them when they all ate in the evenings. And now Glass sang for these children here, for Carmen who watched her with bright curious eyes; Max, who rolled back over to face them, even as he pretended not to be listening; and for Charlotte, a song to keep away her nightmares and to let her know she wasn't alone.
.
As we lie beneath the stars, we realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me, imagine what the world could be
.
XXXXX
They'd been walking for hours and Emily showed no sign of stopping. She'd gone quiet since they'd left the old house behind, and something about the silence and shadows made Danny hesitant to disrupt the stillness. Darkness fully covered them now, but the moonlight that penetrated the trees was enough to light their way. The air was heavy with the scent of the white blossoms that only unfurled at night, making the trees look like they'd been dressed for a special occasion. Emily took a deep breath and the part of her mind that had been taught that everything must serve a purpose wondered what sort of evolutionary advantage the strange flowers provided. Maybe they attracted some type of nocturnal insect? Their distinct perfume bordered on overwhelming in the spots where the trees grew close together.
As they kept walking the forest thinned out again and Emily led the way up a steep slope. When they reached the crest of the rise, she turned and walked along it until they could hear the bubble of shallow water moving fast and they came to a stream. The trees weren't as dense by the stream, and the moonlight shone brightly through, reflecting on the rippling surface of the water as they stopped to drink. On the Ark, the last century of filtration and purification had stripped the liquid until it was no more than a collection of hydrogen and oxygen molecules. On the ground, if Emily had to describe it, she'd say that the water tasted like a combination of Earth and Sky. Such a simple thing, and yet it was like a simile for the difference between merely surviving, and actually living.
Danny didn't know this part of the forest, but Emily seemed like she had some goal in mind; she seemed sure of herself as she continued on, her footsteps never faltering. Emily moved like she'd been made for these wooded trails rather than the straight even hallways of the Ark.
"Where are we actually going?" Danny finally felt compelled to ask.
"There," Emily said as she pointed ahead of them. They were standing on the edge of a ridge. Just a few feet ahead, the ground sloped sharply down to a glimmering body of water that the stream they'd just been drinking from flowed down into. The moon above was huge and bright, while a second moon trembled just below, reflected in the smooth surface.
"It's beautiful," Danny said, looking down at the sight. "What are you doing?" he asked as Emily started picking her way down the steep incline.
"I didn't come all this way just to look at it," she said without stopping or looking back. "It's less steep over here." They didn't speak as he followed her down.
At the bottom of the slope, Danny hung back, staring at the lake as wonder swept away the exhaustion that had settled on his limbs from the long hike. The surface was as smooth as glass, and the reflection of the moon, dotted with the twinkling light of fireflies that skimmed over the surface, looked like one of the gems that were occasionally seen at the Exchange on the Ark, locked up in a transparent case. Emily let her pack slide to the ground, along with her sword, then raised her arms into the air and stretched. She walked slowly toward the lake, crouching down at the edge and skimming her fingers across the surface. The ripples spread out, distorting the moon's reflection.
Emily took a deep breath, exhaled slowly and closed her eyes, letting her wariness and tension seep away. She liked being out here, away from everything else where the only thing she had to worry about was herself. Except tonight she wasn't completely by herself. She looked back at Danny and saw that he stood perfectly still, staring at her with an intensity that made her shiver. That was strange – not that he was staring, but that she'd reacted, even minutely, to him staring. Emily was used to being stared at. As both a beautiful teenage girl and a politician's daughter, she was used to always having eyes on her, people watching her, so much so that she'd grown numb to it years ago. Their stares couldn't touch her. But for some reason, his did. And he wasn't at all embarrassed to be caught staring.
To cover up the unease that was stirred up by the foreign feeling, Emily let a mischievous smile slink across her face. Without a word, she shed her jacket, along with her knives, pulled her sweat soaked shirt over her head, and stepped out of her pants. She didn't bother to turn to see the look on his face as he watched her walk into the lake wearing nothing but her bra and underwear.
The water was colder than she'd realized, and her skin began to prickle, though she wasn't sure if that was from the night air on her bare skin, or the sensation of Danny's eyes on her. She gasped from the cold and then let out a sigh as the water swept over her shoulders. Water was far too scarce on the Ark to justify baths, even for the privileged, and this was the first time Emily had ever felt her entire body submerged. She lifted her feet from the floor of the pool and lay on her back on the surface of the crystal clear water. The experience of floating in the water brought a feeling of being both powerful and vulnerable. She didn't care that her improvised swimming outfit would be see-through when she emerged from the water.
"Tell me something," Danny said from the shore, the sound of his voice slightly muffled by the water, "Your keen scientific mind instinctively told you that the water was safe?"
Everyone in camp had heard about Octavia being attacked by what looked like a giant snake when she'd jumped into the river near Mount Weather.
"No, but I'm willing to chance it," said Emily. She stood up – the water was deep enough that her toes barely skimmed the bottom of the pool – and her familiar smirk returned as she said, "Are you?"
Emily ducked beneath the water and pulled the tie out of the end of her braid. She stayed below the surface, letting the flow of the water pull her hair loose from its braid and just enjoying it. When she couldn't hold her breath any longer, she popped out of the water with a laugh as the water streamed down her face and through her hair. Her hair looked as dark as strands of ink as it splayed out and drifted around her in the slight current.
"Wow," Danny said right behind her. She turned to face him, and saw that he'd left his clothes at the shore along with hers. His hair was slicked back away from his face. The moon was so large and bright that there was no mistaking the grin on his face. He was looking at her with the same wonder in his eyes as when he first saw the lake.
"I think that's the first time I've seen you really laugh," said Danny. At Emily's questioning look he said, "I've been paying attention."
"I thought your job was to pay attention to Bellamy and report what he does back to Thalia," said Emily.
"You caught on to that huh?"
"Only because I pay attention," she said. But she didn't really care about the weird version of politics that was being played out in camp. Emily looked out to where the inlet that they floated in opened out to a larger part of the lake. "Want to go further out?"
Danny shook his head. "No, I'm good right here."
And that smirk of hers was back. "Scared?"
"Definitely," said Danny as something shifted in his gaze, "But not of the water."
Once again he was watching her with an intensity that was worlds away from his usual playful grin, the kind of look that would make any other girl blush. But not Emily – she never blushed. He moved closer to her, but she didn't back away. Emily Kane never backed down from anything. Danny raised his hand and trailed the tips of his fingers down her cheek and to her neck.
"Don't hit me," he said, making her smile before he kissed her.
.
And in the air the fireflies, our only light in paradise
I never dreamed that you'd be mine, but here we are, we're here tonight
.
XXXXX
Walking along a narrow trail beneath the trees that might have once been a shallow stream, Trina picked her way over loose rocks while Pascal sauntered on behind her. They'd gone off on their own to get away from everyone else in camp for a while to spend some alone time together and had ended up getting lost.
"Come on," said Trina, "I think this is north."
"Really?" Pascal asked teasingly, "Because we just came from that way, Miss I-Can-Navigate-With-The-Stars."
Trina turned back and looked at him accusingly, "It's your fault we've been lost for two days. We never should've gone off by ourselves."
"Come on." Taking her hand, Pascal pulled her closer to him as he leaned back against an overturned tree. "We'll find the dropship tomorrow."
"That's what you said last night," Trina complained, giving him a cute pout as she put her hands on his shoulders. "And I'm hungry."
"Trina, relax. We're fine." Pascal gave her a reassuring smile as he pulled her in for a kiss. Trina smiled against his lips as she kissed him back. Isolated as they were, it felt like they could be the only two people on Earth.
Trina pulled away as a gust of unusually warm air blow over them, accompanied by a sudden rushing sound, like air moving fast. "Did you feel that?"
Pascal looked annoyed at the interruption, until he noticed the warming air too, accompanied by some odor that burned at his nose. Looking back the way they'd come, the direction the warm air was coming from, he saw what looked like a yellowish cloud rolling towards them through the trees.
"What is that?" Trina said worriedly.
"I don't know," Pascal shook his head, baffled. He'd never heard of anything like this in any Earth Skills class, but it had ominous written all over it. He backed away from it, pulling Trina with him. They didn't move fast enough, and the fog came over them.
"Oh! I can't see!" Trina cried out in pain.
"Let's get out of here!" shouted Pascal. He reached blindly for her but Trina wasn't there. In the first moments of panic they'd lost track of each other. "Trina!"
"Oh my God, it burns!" Trina screamed. And Pascal was screaming right along with her as the fog thickened, enveloping them completely. They couldn't see each other, but they could hear each other screaming as the toxic cloud sizzled through the air and burned away at their skin.
.
Author's Note: The song lyrics in this chapter are from If Everyone Cared by Nickleback